


Thunderstorm

by Lirillith



Category: Final Fantasy VI
Genre: Gen, Mid-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-02-26
Updated: 2006-02-26
Packaged: 2017-10-22 10:21:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/237055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lirillith/pseuds/Lirillith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Terra and Locke get caught in a thunderstorm, between Narshe and Figaro.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thunderstorm

It was near twilight, their first full day away from Narshe, and just as Locke was looking back over the road, saying, "Looks like we're in the clear," Terra felt a raindrop on her hand. "No one in sight, at least. Maybe we can relax a little."

"Um, Locke?" Another on the top of her head. "I think it's raining."

"Are you— ah, hell. Yeah, I just felt one too. Do you remember seeing any signs about the next inn?"

"No... At least it's warm."

"It's still wet," he grumbled, like that was a bad thing.

It wasn't much fun being pelted by rain at high speeds, that was true, but at a walk it was actually kind of nice, and he'd been saying before that they ought to let the chocobos rest. It had been cold in Narshe, but it had been downhill the past two days, and it had been getting steadily warmer the whole time.

"It's not that bad," she pointed out, after a while.

"I guess not," he said. "Getting dried out will be a mess, though. Our luggage is probably going to be soaked. And it really sucks trying to sleep in a tent in the rain."

"Oh," she said, and then "Oh!" when the sky suddenly lit up with a bolt of violet light. She blinked at the clouds where it had been, her eyes dazzled, then jumped at the rumble of thunder that followed.

"I guess that's your introduction to lightning," he said, sounding amused.

"I... don't think that happened much wherever I was from. I remember some things when I see them, but that seemed to be completely new."

"You probably won't remember everything you knew before just because you see it again," he said. "Wasn't that one of your magitek attacks, though?"

"I think so..." Those memories weren't quite clear, or maybe she just didn't want them in focus. "I don't know why it surprised me."

He flipped the collar of his jacket up. "It's startling, even if you know what it is, so it probably doesn't mean you'd never seen or heard it. And these sudden storms on the plains are just weird - even people who've lived here all their lives can't predict the weather."

"Plains? I thought we were headed for a desert."

As the rain fell steadily, he occupied himself with trying to draw a map in the air to illustrate his explanation about the Figaro borderlands. Terra kept turning her face up to the sky, enjoying the feel of the rain on her skin much more than in her hair, blinking water from her eyes and watching for more lightning. No more appeared for some time. When it did, she jumped, but grinned at him delightedly. "Did you see that?" she asked.

He smiled back. "You haven't been listening to a word I've said, have you?" he asked good-naturedly.

"Not really," she replied happily, then wiped the water out of her eyes and said "Locke, look over there."

He stared, showing no change of expression; she pointed, and saw him start to smile. "That's an inn, all right," he said. "Good job, Terra!" He flicked the chocobo's reins, pushing the bird to a lumbering trot, and Terra's followed and then passed his. She grinned at him as they passed, and then he was even with her, and next thing she knew they were racing, shouting at the birds and standing up in their stirrups, heads ducked against the stinging rain. Terra was slightly in the lead as they careened into the inn yard, and she crowed in triumph as he reined in his chocobo.

"See, no wet tents," she said, as he climbed down off the saddle.

"If we've got enough to cover it, hot baths instead."

"I thought you wanted to be dry?" she asked innocently, then laughed at his bemused expression.

"Was that real cluelessness, or were you being sarcastic?"

"Sort of both," she said. "At first I was just confused, and then a second later I realized you wanted to warm up and then I just thought it was silly when you'd complained about the rain so much."

"That's— I mean— It's different!" he protested, but before she could ask how, the stableman approached and Locke immediately began negotiations to have the birds fed and stabled. Terra slid off her chocobo's back and wandered out to the gate again, the men's voices behind her obscured by the sound of the rain falling around her, drumming on the roofs and the ground, and by another rumble of distant thunder. She hadn't seen any lightning, but then, it'd be gone now anyway.

She'd been standing there for some time when she heard Locke's voice, behind her, saying, "They would have let you wait inside."

"I didn't want to," she said. "Can't I just stay out until the lightning comes back? You can go in."

"It doesn't follow a schedule..." he said. "Let's get under the eaves, at least."

She let him tug her under the shelter, and he stayed with her as night fell, waiting for another bolt to split the sky.


End file.
